Calixarenes as Host Molecules for Drug Carriers in the Cosmetic and Medical Field

Calixarenes are macrocyclic molecules with unique three-dimensional structures, shaped like a cup with a hydrophobic upper rim and a hydrophilic lower rim surrounding a hollow cavity. Calixarenes are frequently studied as the host system and used as nanosensors in drug carrier as well as drug delivery system application. This is due to the characteristics of calixarenes as well as their derivatives, which can interact and form composite nanomaterials with ions and neutral species, including metal and non-metal. The ease of calixarenes to be synthesized and functionalized at various sites is the main reason of their widely use in different applications. This review article focuses on the structures, properties of calixarenes and their host-guest interaction with guest molecules, according to previous experimental researches as well as review studies that had been carried out. The applications of calixarenes in cosmetic and medical fields for the recent ten years are discussed. Drugs can be loaded into calixarenes by encapsulation and host-guest interactions. This contributes to the different applications, including the medical and cosmetic fields with low cytotoxicity and no haemolytic activity, which are crucial for safety purposes. Their great potential and contributions in these fields have been shown, which may be utilized in the future studies of supramolecular chemistry.